Texas won't pull mention of Christmas from textbooks

Board decides to keep Christmas in textbooks

GARY SCHARRER, AUSTIN BUREAU |
September 18, 2009

AUSTIN — Christmas will stay in Texas textbooks, State Board of Education members said Thursday while reviewing early recommendations for new social studies standards.

The board will not approve the new curriculum standards for public schools until next year, but wanted to assure constituents they will not accept a recommendation to yank Christmas.

“We have heard quite significant feedback from parents, from people who are very disturbed that we are not going to continue keeping Christmas in our standards. No one on this board intends to take out Christmas,” said Gail Lowe, of Lampasas, chair of the 15-member board.

Religious observances

The board met with consultants and educators appointed to develop new curriculum standards for textbooks covering history, government, sociology, economics and geography for the next decade.

The proposed standards suggest sixth-graders be expected to explain the significance of religious observances of major faiths, including Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism.

Experts recommended that public schools teach about Diwali, which is celebrated by Hindus and some Buddhists, but drop mention of Christmas. Easter would remain.

Board members also signaled their intent to restore Rosh Hashanah as an example of a Jewish observance, in addition to Yom Kippur.

A group of six “expert reviewers” and 124 members of social studies review committees are developing the new curriculum standards.

Some board members argued for more accomplishments of minorities to be included in the final version. An early recommendation to remove the late farm workers leader César Chávez and the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall provoked a strong reaction. Both are expected to remain in the textbooks.

“We can't satisfy everyone,” said board member Barbara Cargill, of The Woodlands. “We don't want to burden textbooks with hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of names … As we go through this process we will see a lot more minorities than we ever have been before, so that's a positive.”